It's Going To Be A Long Month!

 

Most of today has been pretty miserable weather wise, which spurred me on to do some indoor jobs.

I have been wanting to get the cupboard under the sink cleared out for ages,

I did do it a couple of years ago, leaving only items I felt I would use regularly, but its surprising how few things actually get used regularly!

I took this photo half way through emptying it (always forgetting the "before" photo!) and practically every work surface was full by this stage!

 

 

After a good clear out and wash down of the shelves, I am confident these are the only things I will need regularly...

 

 

...everything else is going down to the garage ( which is getting to the stage of needing another clear out itself!)

 

 

 

The bunnies survived sharing the hutch over night...although we did keep baby Benji in the carrier as well.

I had a bit of a fright when I saw this lying on the ground later...it was the exact colour of Benji's tail!

 

 

But thankfully it was just a seed head, but I have no idea where it came from, there is nothing else like it in the garden.

 

 

Needless to say there have been plenty of bunny hugs today, he really is a cutie and irresistible to cuddle.

We called in to our Dear Old Friend, on the way to the vets, to introduce the latest member of the family...

 

 

...and she presented us with a handmade "Welcome" card and some bunny treats!!

 

 

She really is such a kind and thoughtful lady.

She enjoyed stroking Benji and recalled stories her Mother told her as a little girl, about the antics that went on in bunny burrows.

 

 

She also gave me a large carrier bag full of freshly picked blackcurrants!

A neighbour had given them to her, thinking she might like to make jam, but she has never made jam in her life and didn't know what to do with them all....so cue me!

Tomorrow I will give the Teens the task of topping and tailing them....with rubber gloves I think, or they will have purple hands for the rest of the holidays!

I must confess, I love practically all fruits, especially cooked fruits, but I just don't like blackcurrants!

It might have something to do with having a younger brother who was frequently sick, and would only drink Ribena, so always produced purple you know what!!

Moving swiftly on.....

 

 

...Benji had his jabs and a clean bill of health from the Vets, and we then got on to the "little op" topic.

I asked when he would be fertile...well...now....

so then I asked when he could have his little op....

...when he is four months!!

What!!!???

"But we have an unsprayed female at home" I exclaimed

"Well come back in a month then" was the answer!

So...it will be a long month and I have visions of a little family photo like the above appearing in a blog post soon!

Mind you, Little One runs a mile whenever little Benji comes near so at the moment it looks pretty safe...unless she is playing hard to get and this is a courtship ritual!!

 

 

The Teens and I popped in to town and amongst other things bought some jam jar treats for Friday's children's party.

We have organised "guess how many" in jars for the last few years and it has always gone down a treat.

Teen One took on the laborious task of adding up the goodies this afternoon.

 

 

Teen Two helped me with dinner, he rolled and cooked the meatballs for me.

We used lambs mince with a generous tablespoon of mint jelly....mmm they did taste good!

 

 

 

 

 

Filling The Bunny Shaped Hole In Our Lives

 

This morning I went to see my Monday Recycled Teenager as usual, whilst Teen Two went to enrol at college for next term.

Back home again my friend called in for some lunch and we enjoyed a lovely hour in the garden.

The garden has not been the same without Buster bounding around, and knowing Little One was probably missing her mate as much as Teen Two was, I suggested we take a trip out to the pet store to see if we liked the look of any of the bunnies.

Our local store had some lovely bunnies, but none pulled at our heart strings,

so we drove a few miles up the motorway to the next store, and saw this little bundle of bouncy fun, looking just like his predecessor!

Well there was no question about whether he was the one for us!

Teen Two had a hold of him, and also another one, but this one was the one who stole our hearts.

 

 

Back home we were prepared for a long few weeks whilst the bunnies settled in to the new arrangement, and were poised to separate any scuffles that took place...

 

 

...we introduced Benjamin to the ground very cautiously, and for a while he kept to a very small area, bobbing up and down, finding a place of safety under the hutch to run to...

 

 

 

...then filled with boldness little Benji bounded right up to Little One, gave her rear end a good sniff, which received no reaction at all from Little One, and that was that!

There have been a few more up close and personal moments....face to face and also a few chases....surprisingly little Benji chasing after Little One for some fun I think, but Little One just runs off!

We had felt sure Little One would retain her dominance, but it seems this little one bought today has won over her heart too!

However....we don't want them falling in love too much, since Little One has not been spayed, and we understand male bunnies are fertile from about 6 weeks old!

They will not be sharing the same hutch space tonight and tomorrow we have the Vets for his check up and free vaccine....and we will no doubt be booking another appointment for that little but oh so essential op!

 

Needless to say Teen Two is now one very happy bunny!

 

 

 

 

 

Micro Changes To Routine!

 

Some days its really hard to know how to start this blog.

Doing it daily means, for most of the year, our routine is pretty much the same.

So making it exciting  interesting  enjoyable inspiring something folk will want to read is pretty hard!

Today is one of those days when I could just type out "read last Sunday...or any other Sunday"

because it was pretty much a run of the mill Sunday.

Church first thing, followed by a roast dinner...which was definitely a labour of love as it was super hot in that kitchen!

 

 

There were a couple of micro changes to the routine however.

I suddenly realised our Dear Old Friend from church was 88 today,

so whizzed round there with a card, pressie (thank goodness I have a store of "just incase" presents!) and an offer to bring her round to ours for the afternoon.

She was happy to see me, but didn't want to leave her house in the heat, so I kept her company for a bit, then returned home for our usual games fest...

 

 

 

...however there was a slight change to routine here as well!

Grandma had bought a Countdown game at a car boot some time ago and was eager to play it.

Over the years we have watched this many times of course, but not so much in recent years,

so we didn't bother reading the instructions as we were so familiar with how the show runs, we threw caution to the wind and abandoned the timer, to make it a more leisurely game, which pretty much worked.

It was good fun...and that's not just because I won!

We followed it up with a game of Rummikub which as usual Teen Two won.

 

 

The evening finished off with church again.

I can't remember if I followed up on the homeless man who comes most weeks, but I am glad to report that one of our Elders went to the council with him and as a result he now has permanent accommodation and is very happy.

There was an slight delay of about a week before his place was ready, so the Elder paid for him to be in a B&B to ensure he was off the streets.

He goes to another church Sunday morning, with his dad ( who must be quite elderly given he is in his late 50's) and did make us laugh when he said

"They have better food there, but I like it here better!"

We keep Sunday evening simple, just a cuppa and biccies....so tonight I decided to take some sausage rolls along as a surprise.

He really enjoyed them and we gave him the "left overs" to take home.

No doubt I will now do something like that on a regular basis and ensure there are

"left overs."

 

 

 

 

Saturday July 9th: Another Young People's Day Out

 

This morning Teen Two and I took Little One to the vet for a thorough going over.

We needed to be sure she wasn't showing any signs of the illness e cuniculi that caused Buster to be put to sleep.

Aside from her mammary glands being enlarged she was given a clean bill of health, vaccinated, wormed....well we have the  paste to give her and will tackle that tricky task tomorrow!

We had a look at the baby bunnies whilst there and may go back on Tuesday with a view to purchasing a hutch mate for her.

 

 

Hubby managed to get a few DIY chores done, before we headed out to Newbury for  YP Workshop day.

It was very interesting hearing two young men share with us how the Lord had turned their lives around.

In the break we went for a walk along the Kennet and Avon canal ( and don't you love my spaceship cloud, which we didn't notice until the photo was uploaded!)

 

 

 

We were kindly provided with some bread to feed the ducks with....

 

 

...and treated to a couple of delightful ducklings coming to say hello.

 

 

 

One of the barges had Rosie and Jim dolls in the window, that brought back lovely memories from when the Teens were Tots!

 

 

We all enjoyed the fresh air, and lovely surroundings and a final session before a pizza supper and heading back home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bee Thankful!

 

This morning was still tinged with sadness for us all, Teen Two in particular.

"Little One" seemed at a loss as well, although she did take some time to sit out in the shade of the laundry.

 

 

Teen Two went to college for the last time this academic year, but there was no work involved.....they were going to the local Harvester for breakfast!

He wasn't too sure he wanted to go, still not having much of an appetite, but I suggested he give it a go and call me if it got too much.

Meanwhile Teen One set do doing some baking....

 

 

...starting with a cherry cake, which was way too much faffing for me, it involved breadcrumbs (yes breadcrumbs!) whisked egg whites and fresh cherries ( we used the posh dried morrello cherries I bought cheap the other week)...

 

 

...it just needs a dusting of icing sugar when its cooled...

 

 

 

... she also made  Oreo brownies for a YP workshop we are going on tomorrow...

 

 

 

...what I really love about Teen One's baking sessions these days, is how lovely and clean she leaves everything afterwards!

It used to look like a war zone when she was younger!

 

I decided to try out a recently refurbed Lidl and wished I hadn't, the queue to get in should have told me to turn back!

With only three check outs open the queue to pay for my trolley load took 20minutes!

The queue to get in the car park was even longer when I came out and I warned anyone I passed they were in for a long wait...two decided to cut their losses and go elsewhere!

Back home I was just thinking about getting some lunch when I had a call to say Teen Two wasn't  feeling well so had to go and collect him...

 

 

 

I think it was a combination of over indulging on the unlimited breakfast, a long walk in the midday sun and of course the heartache of yesterday.

An afternoon lying on the sofa with the fan on and sips of water seemed to do the trick.

 

 

When he was a bit perkier I went and fetched Little One, who I felt sure would be in need of some comfort too.

 

 

 

The weather was too hot for me to want to spend very long in the kitchen, so I opted for some salads to go with pizza, which I thought Hubby would find acceptable...this carrot and raisin went down well...

 

 

as did a baby spinach and strawberry salad.

I had a small bottle of raspberry balsamic vinegar which was a good flavour combination with the strawberries.

Hubby doesn't  like vinegary things, but these two were quite mild so he was ok with that, Teen Two however could not be tempted!

 

 

Hubby finally painted behind the drain for me, I had hoped the builder would have tiled that last bit but for some reason he left it, maybe it was too tricky, but the black paint finishes it off and when the washing machine is in situ no one will see anyway!

Hopefully the machine will be moved back tomorrow and I won't have to squeeze into the kitchen sink area any more!

 

 

For Friday Club our story was of the ten lepers who were healed and only one returned to the Lord to say thank you.

Our theme therefore was "Be thankful"

 

 

Some made bees with a peg as the "sting" to write down things to be thankful for,

some coloured the bee, some used felt for the stripes.

Others made flowers, and added foam bees, along with their things to be thankful for...

 

 

...there are always the kids who melt your heart with what they write....

 

 

 

...and those who don't!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye Bye Buster The Bunny

 

Just two days ago I was blogging the joys of being able to feed our veggie scraps to this cute pair.

We had no way of telling that today we would be saying goodbye to our brown and white bunny Buster.

 

 

This morning Teen Two commented Buster was very still....and I had thought it unusual last night he wasn't out enjoying his sunset supper as usual.

 

 

I monitored Buster throughout the day, feeling a little happier when I found he had left the hutch and was happy to drink from the bowl I set by him.

But as the afternoon wore on and after a few phone calls to Vets I felt I needed to follow their advice and bring him in as he hadn't been seen eating for a few hours.

The only appointment I could get was 3pm and Teen Two doesn't get home till 3.15pm so I collected him en route.

 

 

Needless to say he was very anxious when he saw me in reception with pet carrier in tow.

 

 

 

 

Whilst waiting in reception Teen Two mentioned Buster's head was a bit tilted, then when we were in the consulting room and had him out of the carrier it was evident he had had a stroke in that short time.

It was very distressing to see and of course Teen Two was very upset.

He had one final hug whilst the vet dealt with the paper work, then it was back to reception to wait for that sad bundle being returned to us.

Several customers saw Teen Two in tears and came to put their arm around him,

an elderly man shared his experience of having to have his doggie put to sleep and another lady had told us of her bunny who had to be put to sleep the other month.
Everyone who loves their pets has a story to tell, no matter the pet or the length of time they were a part of your life.

Teen Two takes these losses keenly, and its hard to watch, but this is part of life and the process of losing a pet I do believe helps with greater losses later in life.

We know how sad today feels,  but we know will get over it and life will feel happy again, we will never forget our pets and the happiness they brought to our lives.

As a parent, I am thankful today that we only lost a bunny, I heard that my friend in the US, whose son has been in remission from cancer had sad news that the cancer is back and growing.